FIGHT FOR YOUR CHILDREN
I'm always pumped up on Tuesdays after our weekly Bible study night. Last night I was encouraged in so many ways again, but one thing in particular really hit me between the eyes. Beth was teaching from Joshua 4, and got off on the importance of leaving a heritage of being passionate for Jesus to our children.
Nehemiah 4:14
"...Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."
The enemy is fighting hard for our children's hearts and lives, and we need to fight harder!!
One of my favorite scriptures that I have framed and hanging in our bathroom is Deuteronomy 6:4-8. It talks about loving God with everything that we have and how we are to IMPRESS these commands on our children -- talk about them all throughout the day and connect everything in our lives to Jesus! This is our command as parents! It's not enough to just take them to Sunday school, but it is our job to train them in the ways of Jesus.
I made a reminder for my fridge that has these thoughts on it:
Remind your children EVERYDAY that:
1) Without Jesus, life is not worth living!
2) God chose you and loves you!
3) If you miss this, you miss everything!
4) Ask them everyday, Who is life about? JESUS!
Some additional thoughts:
* Do our children know -- If I've missed this, I miss everything!
* If they literally choose not to, I want them to have to fight it b/c it's been so instilled in them that it literally is a part of them!
* When we portray that life with God is the richest of all existance, they will want it!
(This goes back to my post on being a "letter of recommendation")
* Tell them why they want it!
* Your heritage is not mediocrity, but it is to be an on-fire Jesus freak who has more passion for Him than anything else! (I'm still learning this myself..... it's a daily thing.)
I don't want to get caught up in the temporary, but keep my eyes focused on the eternal. "There is no greater joy than to know that my children walk in truth." 3 John 4 My prayer is that this will be the passion of my life from this day forward -- teaching my children to walk in truth. Nothing else in this world is worth living for! I don't want to waste my life, or let them waste theirs!
3 comments:
I just thought I'd mention a great teaching I heard on parenting, which you can access online:
Go to www.middayconnection.org and click on "Audio Archive" on the menu down the left side of the home page. There you will find a wealth of teaching on various topics. The one I am referring to was from Tuesday, 3/14/06, and was titled "Parenting the Way God Parents". Scroll down to this line and click on it, and then you will need to click on it one more time on the next page that comes up.
Midday Connection is a radio broadcast by us--a ministry of Moody Bible Institute out of Chicago--but if you have a high speed connection you can also listen online, at your own convenience. As you will see, there are a ton of different discussions available to listen to. I listen often and find many of them interesting and relevant to my life.
Check it out!
-Val
Thanks, Val. I'll be sure to check it out. Is it something I can order a CD of as well? We don't have high speed internet yet, so I probably can't listen on-line very well. I've never done that at least. I'm always open to hearing about great teachings, especially in the realm of parenting! :)
I don't believe you can get these particular ones on CD yet. You may be able to download it and listen to it even if you don't have a high speed connection...I'm not sure exactly how that works, but you could always click on it and see what happens. You would need to have either Windows Media Player or RealOne Player.
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